From Greek hero to Islamic prophet:
the long literary journey
of Alexander the Great
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and
‘Undoing the Ancient’ Research Group
Tuesday 15 October 2013
The Speaker
Mario Casari studied Persian and
Arabic languages in Italy and the
Middle East, and obtained his PhD
in Iranian Studies at the ‘Istituto
Universitario Orientale’, Naples. He
is Lecturer in Arabic Language and
Literature and in Persian Language
and Literature at the Italian Institute
of Oriental Studies, ‘Sapienza’
University of Rome. His research
deals with cultural relations between
Europe and the Islamic world from
late antiquity to the modern age.
In 2011 he was awarded the AlFarabi-UNESCO prize for his book
Alessandro e Utopia nei romanzi
persiani medievali (1999).
12:15-1:45
CCANESA Boardroom
Madsen Building F09
Eastern Avenue,
University of Sydney
More info:
sydney.edu.au/classics_ancient_history
Mario Casari
‘Sapienza’ University of Rome
The figure of Alexander the Great has traversed more than twenty centuries of literary
history. Throughout this time, two distinct visions are dominant. On the one hand, he
was a valiant hero, the just and wise king, a messiah; on the other hand, there was the
ferocious warrior, the insatiable dominator, and challenger of divine power. This duality
was explored by a multitude of authors across genres, from classical historiography
to rabbinical traditions, from Christian apocalyptic literature to Islamic stories of the
prophets and European courtly romances. It invited a constantly revised reflection on
sovereignty: the qualities of a prince, the nature of universal rule, and the abuse of
power.
But he was not just a ruler, Alexander was also the ‘king explorer’, whose power and
political projects were based above all on a detailed cosmographical knowledge. While
Alexander consistently represented a model for Roman and Byzantine emperors as well
as for Arab caliphs and Persian princes, and later European kings and Turkish governors,
Alexander narratives were filled with fragments of geographical, ethnographical, political,
and technological knowledge, updated across the centuries and myriad languages, so
that every Alexander romance could become the occasion for a cosmographical survey
of the world.
This paper will follow these two main strands in reading Alexander’s astonishing
success as a literary character, and, with a particular focus on the textual traditions
that emerged in the Asian regions, will try to outline the role of Alexander literature as a
symbolic conveyer of ancient wisdom and knowledge into the modern world.
Illustration: Detail of the Alexander Mosaic, representing Alexander the Great on his horse Bucephalus (Wiki Commons)
ABN: 15 211 513 464. CRICOS number: 00026A.